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The first positional parameter controls column width. Since talkpage is not a number specifying number or width of columns, {{reflist}} simply ignores talkpage and renders as it would in a mainspace article. Probably a typo.
On our Wikipedia, when references are numerous, we use a Références nombreuses template (numerous references) which has the particularity, which your Reflist has not, to be adjustable in height, with 30em as the default.
You can see this in action on our Kate Bush page, which has as many (if not more) references as your Kate Bush page, but thanks to the maximum height of the references, it has better ergonomics.
For this to happen, I noticed that our reference list has an additional div around the ol element, and of course some additional CSS.
I think it could be interesting to add this to your Wikipedia as well.
So how does the French Wikipedia do this with their reflists? When I go to French Coco Gauff article and go down to the references, they are in a nice neat scrollbox. Some of our player articles have hundreds of references and this would sure be nice to have. I can't figure out how to do it. Fyunck(click) (talk) 02:49, 6 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]
See the CSS for how it works. I think we do not use the overflow:auto styling in article space because it interferes with accessibility. See MOS:SCROLL. If you wanted to put it in your own personal CSS, you could probably apply the French styling to .reflist or a similar class. – Jonesey95 (talk) 05:55, 6 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]
That's too bad since these reference lists at the page bottom can get pretty long. I wonder if it is still an accessibility problem with the latest incarnation of screen readers? We have found that many things written in MOS don't really apply anymore but MOS hasn't been updated to reflect this. Maybe this is in that category? Thanks for the answer, but it sure looked nice on the French Wiki. Fyunck(click) (talk) 06:19, 6 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]
@Fyunck(click), French Wikipedia appears to not use the scrolling on mobile. On mobile, it could create a separate accessibility issue for readers with fine motor control deficits trying to scroll either in the references or in the whole page, but getting kind of stuck in the references. (It looks like French Wikipedia editors disabled the style on mobile and print to address this.) Some readers with fine motor control issues may not be using a mouse even on desktop. Trackball and touchscreen pointing would still allow for scrolling, although it would be less convenient on the trackball (you hold a key with the opposite hand to make the trackball work as a giant scroll-wheel). As far as keyboard navigation: the Orca screen reader on Linux Mint treats those references as a standard list, and sighted keyboard navigation allows scrolling after tabbing into the scrollable section (although it is less convenient). One accessibility issue that came up in the French Wikipedia discussion about problems with scrolling references is for sighted users with poor vision. There isn't a great way to use browser zoom features to better see the references because they are locked into that box. To get MOS:SCROLL changed, I think you'd really need to get a kind of broad survey that includes each of the potential issues and multiple accessibility technologies to test out, and then give advice on how to meet those challenges. Also, outside of accessibility concerns, I see some editors over there calling for that template's deletion because they view it as a pain and an obstacle. Rjjiii (talk) 14:10, 6 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for all that. Being sighted one doesn't always realize the extra difficulties it could cause. I know the latest screen readers do well in areas they didn't before so I thought maybe they had overcome this and it was why the French version had changed. Obviously not. Cheers. Fyunck(click) (talk) 17:50, 6 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]
